Harvard Business Review says you can win the sale by winning your customer's heart...

Customers are far more likely to purchase a product or service if they feel valued by the person selling it. Underappreciated customers will look elsewhere to make their purchase.

Reach out to your customers and make sure they know how important they are to you.

Give them the opportunity to meet as many of your staff as possible, all the way up to the CEO.

Thank them for their business and ask them to tell you about their company.

When you create an emotional connection with them, they are more open to hearing what you have to offer, and much more inclined to purchase. This needs to be a genuine connection, however; your overtures shouldn't be phony or insincere.

So, we all know you're supposed to create an emotional connection with customers and it can't be phony. If you do that they'll be more inclined to buy from you. But how do you create a bond that's sincere if what you're after is their business, ie, their money? Never understood that. I'm sure that's what separates the born salesperson from a clod like me. But I'd like to know.